The Twilight 25: Round 8
by Glitterb1234
Summary: A series of 25 unconnected flash fiction pieces based on photo prompts. 300-500 words each, various characters, mixed AU/Canon/AH/Vampfic
1. Prompt 19 - Graveyard

**The Twilight Twenty-Five  
thetwilight25 dot com**

**Prompt: 19  
Pen Name: Glitterb1234  
Pairing/Character(s): Bella+Edward  
Rating: T  
Word Count: 500**

**Photo prompts can be found here:  
thetwilight25 dot com/round-eight/prompts**

Anyone walking through a graveyard after dark on a misty night had to be one of three things: stupid, crazy or suicidal. Occasionally, someone came along who fit into two categories. Finding someone who fit all three was even rarer still.

Edward was having trouble pinning down this latest wanderer.

To the young girl's eyes, the graveyard would be very dim, full of hidden shadows whose black depths she could only guess at the contents of. As she stumbled amongst the grey stones, clouds scudded across the black sky, blown by a swift wind that left the swirling fog at ground level curiously untouched and caused the bright full moon to disappear every few moments behind a new bank of gloom.

To Edward, as he watched her progress and followed silently from the cover of the trees, everything was as clear and sharp as day. He could tell that the girl had dark brown hair hanging in waves past her shoulders, wide brown eyes that darted around her in terror at every little sound, skin almost as pale white as his own, and a petite figure swallowed up by a baggy hoodie and shapeless jeans. She was pretty, he supposed, for a human just barely touching womanhood and gripped with fear. Certainly no Rosalie, but then, who was?

Bella Swan had no idea she was being watched. All she was aware of was the cold nipping at her fingertips, the breath becoming progressively harder to push in and out of her lungs, the fatigue beginning to set into her legs, and above all, the feeling of searching for something. There was no one she knew in this place, and yet something kept her moving, wandering through the fog with only a vague idea of where she was going, hoping whatever force was directing her would also be kind enough to show her the way out.

Her legs were aching so much by this point that she couldn't keep moving forward. She paused, now deep in the heart of the graveyard, and leaned against a tall slender cross with the name worn away by time. All the graves around her were in a bad way, leaning in odd directions, choked in moss and lichen, or crumbling under the effects of near constant harsh weather for who knew how many years. Bella tried to catch her breath, wincing as she stretched each of her leg muscles in turn, and glanced fearfully around her, unable to shake the sudden feeling that someone was watching her.

Meanwhile, Edward seemed to have lost control of his body. At least, that was what it felt like. When the girl had gone further into the fog, he hadn't even stopped to think before leaving the cover of the trees and melting into the darkness of the cemetery. Now he approached her, closer and closer, until at last she turned her head and her eyes widened as she spotted him.

"What are you?"

Without thinking, he answered.

"Yours."


	2. Prompt 12 - Staircase

**The Twilight Twenty-Five **

**thetwilight25 dot com**

**Prompt: 12 **

**Pen Name: Glitterb1234 **

**Pairing/Character(s): Bella + Edward **

**Rating: T **

**Word Count: 499**

**Photo prompts can be found here: **

**thetwilight25 dot com/round-eight/prompts**

I have officially decided that stairs are the work of the devil.

Perhaps it's my own fault for living on the tenth floor of a building with a less than reliable elevator. Perhaps fate just hates me today. Whichever it may be, it doesn't change the fact that I'm now stuck at the bottom of a stairwell with my fussy five month old daughter and absolutely no chance of making up the stairs with baby, diaper bag, stroller and sanity all intact.

This isn't the first time since Ellie was born that the elevator's broken down, but every other time, I've had someone there to help me. But Riley and I broke up two months ago, and today I'm all on my own.

"What are we gonna do Jelly Bean?" I ask her. She just stares at me, then her face scrunches up and I know she's going to start bawling any second.

Just when I think things couldn't get worse, the stairwell door opens behind me and someone practically runs into my back.

"Oh god, I'm so sorry!"

It's Edward, my downstairs neighbour. Young, gorgeous, and miraculously single, this guy frequently stars in my dreams. Today he's dressed for the gym, his dark auburn hair still wet from showering and a weary but satisfied look about him.

I smile weakly – I think it's more of a grimace. "It's fine, totally my fault, I know I'm blocking the stairs."

"Having some trouble?" He smiles knowingly and bends down to tickle Ellie under her chin. "Is mommy in a pickle, princess?"

To my surprise, she calms down instantly. Her little mouth forms a little 'o' and her blue eyes open wide.

I gawk at him. "How did you do that?"

He shrugs. "My sister has a two year old. Can I give you a hand up the stairs?"

I blush and stutter that he doesn't have to, but he insists. Between us we manage to manoeuvre the stroller up ten flights; the whole time he's talking to Ellie, making silly faces. By the time we reach my front door she's actually laughing.

"You need to come round more often," I tell him. "You'd be a godsend when she's teething."

He laughs. "Well, to be honest, I'd actually really like to hang out more, maybe go out for coffee if you have the time."

I can only stare at him. I probably look like a complete idiot, but I'm too surprised to care.

I'm silent too long; he starts backtracking. "But if you don't feel like it that's fine too. I guess you're pretty busy with the baby, forget I even asked-"

"Edward." I cut off his rambling. "I'd really like to hang out too. In fact, if you don't have anywhere else to be, I was thinking you could come in and we could have that coffee now."

His smile could light up the Empire State Building.

Perhaps stairs aren't so bad after all.


	3. Prompt 15 - Marshmallows

**The Twilight Twenty-Five **

**thetwilight25 dot com**

**Prompt: 15 **

**Pen Name: Glitterb1234 **

**Pairing/Character(s): Alice (+Jasper)**

**Rating: T **

**Word Count: 490**

**Photo prompts can be found here: **

**thetwilight25 dot com/round-eight/prompts**

My mother had one simple solution for every problem: hot chocolate. But not just any hot chocolate. Godiva brand, made with milk, not hot water, stirred thoroughly and heated in the microwave for no more or less than two minutes and twenty-five seconds.

Above all, it had to be topped with four white marshmallows shaped like Christmas trees. They were only available in December, made by an obscure brand that even wasn't stocked in Costco, and Mom would bulk buy them online so that we had enough to last through every tragedy that might befall us in the next year.

We had hot chocolate every night for a week after my Nana died, and the every night Daddy kissed her on the cheek as he took his mug.

We had it when my little sister Cynthia was born two months early, and no one knew if she was going to make it or not. It was the first time Mom had indulged herself since she got pregnant, and although her smile was small, it was there.

When I broke up with my first boyfriend, she brought me hot chocolate at three on the morning because she heard me crying.

It was the first she made when we got home from the doctor's office on what we called The Black Day. That was the day my blood test came back. Acute lymphoblastic leukaemia. It was the most common type in children, aggressive but easily treatable, with an 85% survival rate. At 16 I was the oldest kid my doctor was treating, but the outlook was good. Still, there was a lot of hot chocolate during the two years of my treatment – when my hair started to fall out, or one of the little kids on my ward disappeared in the night and I'd knew they'd lost the battle against their own bodies. My mom used to sneak it in to me in a Thermos, with the marshmallows in a zip-lock bag in her purse so they wouldn't melt into the chocolate before she arrived. I was one of the lucky ones who made it into remission and never went back. But I never grew my hair long again.

My mom was my rock, my strength, my biggest cheerleader. Sitting at the kitchen at the kitchen table with her, sipping hot chocolate from her flowery mugs, all my problems seemed insignificant.

I stared down at the mug on the table in front of me, creamy brown, topped with four Christmas tree marshmallows. It had gone cold, and the marshmallows were partly melted, but I hadn't touched it. Jasper slid into the seat beside me and put his arm around my shoulder. I looked up at him, and just the sight of his had me tearing up for the millionth time today. He saw it coming and pulled me into a tight embrace.

"I miss her Jas."

"I know baby. I know."


	4. Prompt 3 - Yellow Lines

**The Twilight Twenty-Five **

**thetwilight25 dot com**

**Prompt: 3 **

**Pen Name: Glitterb1234 **

**Pairing/Character(s): Bella + Edward **

**Rating: T **

**Word Count: 498**

**Photo prompts can be found here: **

**thetwilight25 dot com/round-eight/prompts**

It was a road that went nowhere.

Literally nobody ever drove down that stretch of the 101 just North of Forks, Washington, and Bella liked it that way. It meant she could go there whenever she felt like getting away, and be sure of not being interrupted. The only thing that could be reached along this particular road was the head of a hiking trail, and it was so poorly maintained that it hardly existed anymore. Ironic, she thought, that no one used the trail because it was overgrown, but the lack of people walking back and forth caused the trail to get more overgrown, so they were even less inclined to use it... It went on and on. The futility and ridiculousness of humanity, summed up in a length of dirt track.

On days like today, when it all just got too much, she would drive her rusty red Chevy truck to the end of the road, park, and lie on her back right in the centre of the road, over the yellow lines supposed to divide one stream of traffic from the other. With her hands behind her head, and one foot flat so her knee bent up to the sky, Bella would stare at the clouds and try to find picture, or close her eyes and dream of better times.

When her parents didn't fight every day.

When her mother spent every night at home.

When her friend's self-absorption had been amusing rather than irritating.

When she was just a normal small town girl content in her normal small town world.

Before she'd discovered just how cruel the world could be.

She tried not to think of that dark night on a back street in Port Angeles, the fear from being separated from her friends, the four men shrouded in shadows who'd herded her in, the harsh words they'd spoken and the brutal things they'd done to her. The solid surface beneath her made it harder, but she refused to let herself fall into those memories.

When school was out, Bella spent most of the day lying in the road rather than face the claustrophobic atmosphere at home. She'd been there for a while when a rustling in the trees interrupted her silent musings. She lay perfectly still, waiting, listening.

"Oh! Hey there!"

The voice was almost obnoxiously chipper, very definitely male, and terrifyingly unfamiliar. She sat up with a jerk, ready to run, then froze as she took in the handsome boy with wild coppery hair who had just come off the trail. He was dressed for hiking, wearing a backpack and a good deal of mud. There was a leaf lodged in his hair, and Bella wanted to pluck it out.

He was smiling as if he found strange girls lying in deserted roads everyday. "Are you okay?"

No one had asked her that in a while.

So she cried, and the stranger simply put his arms around her and held her tight.


	5. Prompt 24 - Lake

**The Twilight Twenty-Five **

**thetwilight25 dot com**

**Prompt: 24 **

**Pen Name: Glitterb1234 **

**Pairing/Character(s): Rosalie + Emmett **

**Rating: T **

**Word Count: 500**

**Photo prompts can be found here: **

**thetwilight25 dot com/round-eight/prompts**

The lake was cold this time of year. In summer it bustled with life, the water full of laughing children and the small beach packed to bursting point with towels and beach umbrellas and people trying to get enough of a tan to convince their friends that they'd been somewhere exotic.

But Autumn had come, the sun had vanished behind omnipresent clouds, and the place was deserted.

Except for me.

Having parents who ran a boarding house was fun when it was vacation time. There were always new people to talk to, new boys to flirt with, new things to discover. But once the punters went home, all the life went out of the place, and I was left alone. Mom and Dad were busy with preparations for the Holiday rush, and I was left to entertain myself through the surprisingly long hours that weren't spent in school. This year, I felt especially lonely.

I sighed, kicking my feet through the icy water that I'd walked into up to my ankles as my mind drifted once again back to last week, back to _him_, back to one of the happiest summers I'd ever had. Emmett McCarty had literally fallen into my life, tripping over as he tried to catch a football on the back lawn and crashing into me as I wondered out of the house. I'd been angry, and he'd been contrite, apologising over and over as he helped me up. He was sweet, I conceded, and very cute, with dark curly hair and delectable dimples when he grinned his cheeky grin, and it didn't take me long to abandon my wounded pride and fall for him completely. He made me laugh, looked at me like I was the most beautiful thing he'd ever seen, and yet to him I wasn't just a pretty face. He was interested in _me_, my opinions, my dreams, everything I had to say. That first day wasn't the last time we butted heads, but our fights never lasted long. I learned that he liked to wrestle with his brother, that his sister annoyed him but he'd still do anything to protect her, that he loved his mother more than he'd ever admit to anyone.

The night before he left, we lay on the beach all night, sometimes kissing, sometimes just lying in silence. I told him I loved him, and he said it back with more tenderness than I felt deserving of. We never said goodbye, because that would make it final. The next morning, his family drove away while I watched from the window and cried.

Out of nowhere, a familiar arm slid around my waist and a low voice whispered, "Hey babe," into my ear. I spun around, disbelieving, blinking sporadically.

"You came back?" I choked out, and he nodded.

"I love you Rosie. I can't spend another year of my life away from you. I have to be with you, forever."

We kissed, and I was home.


	6. Prompt 18 - Leaves

**The Twilight Twenty-Five **

**thetwilight25 dot com**

**Prompt: 18 **

**Pen Name: Glitterb1234 **

**Pairing/Character(s): Esme **

**Rating: K **

**Word Count: 400**

**Photo prompts can be found here: **

**thetwilight25 dot com/round-eight/prompts**

Destroying a leaf pile was an experience every child should have at least once in their lives. At least, Esme Cullen thought so. She had never felt any particular need to have her husband rake all the leaves in the yard into one huge stack, preferring the wild, natural way that they littered the lawn. But once their sons got big enough to enjoy running around in the garden, it was decided to make a yearly tradition out of raking the leaves together just so that Emmett, Jasper and Edward could spend an afternoon spreading them back across the grass.

For weeks, the boys would watch the leaves falling with all the excitement and anticipation that other children reserved for falling snow. Then would come the magical day when Carlisle went out with the rake, and all three would perch themselves on the window seat in the living room to watch as he formed the pile, each one silently plotting how best to cover his brothers in orange, red and brown foliage. Their mother would insist on coats, hats and scarves, and once these were grudgingly donned they were released upon the mountain of leaves, racing like wild animals across the lawn and hollering battle cries like Indian braves. There would follow several hours of leafy carnage, before they stumbled back inside to wash up for dinner, flushed, tired and often a little muddy, but beaming from ear to ear.

They were no longer little boys, but the tradition remained the same – almost. Now, the boys helped their father collect up the leaves, the forming of the pile becoming half the fun. They refused to wrap up warm, content to be out in hoodies and jeans, but Esme no longer feared their catching cold and did not argue. And when the let loose all their pent up energy in throwing and running and shouting, they were joined by others. Rosalie, Alice and Bella weren't too old to play in the leaves either, and it made Esme smile to watch them all enjoy themselves.

This time next year, Emmett would be heading off to college, leaving his brothers and girlfriend behind. They might never get to play in the leaves all together ever again. Only Esme seemed to be thinking to be thinking about that. But that was okay.

Let them have fun now; they could worry about the future later.


	7. Prompt 1 - Hold

**The Twilight Twenty-Five **

**thetwilight25 dot com**

**Prompt: 1 **

**Pen Name: Glitterb1234 **

**Pairing/Character(s): Bella+Edward **

**Rating: T **

**Word Count: 490**

**Photo prompts can be found here: **

**thetwilight25 dot com/round-eight/prompts**

She's still crying. It's been hours, and she shows no signs of stopping any time soon.

It cuts me to the core to see the tears running down her cheeks like the rain running down the window pane, and the worst of it is that I can't do anything about it. There are no words I can say, no melodies I can hum, no place I can take her or action I can take that will take the pain away and make her happy again.

Part of me wishes I could cry too. It seems it would be a good way to release all the pent up emotion I've been holding onto. I have no idea if that is what it is doing for Bella, but I know it often works for others.

So I let her cry. I hold her, let her tears soak my shirt, and give her the only thing I can – something to hold onto to stop her falling apart completely. It hurts to watch, but imagining what it might be like if I weren't here is much worse.

Alice called me as soon as Bella left our house, letting me know she was headed for La Push, but I don't think she really expected me to do anything about it, and of course I didn't. I trusted Bella to know what would be best for her. As much as I wanted to be there for her, I knew my presence would be the opposite of helpful, that this was something she had to do by herself. I may never know what they talked about, and I would never force her to relive something which is clearly so painful, but part of me will always wonder.

Once Alice saw her crying in her truck by the side of the road, I felt like I couldn't get to her fast enough. Even running full tilt, it took me longer than I wanted to find her, and pulling her into my arms felt like breathing again after being underwater too long. But the reunion was tainted by her tears, tears for another man, tears for the chattering of another love. In my heart of hearts, I can't deny that it hurt me to think of him being so important to her, but my jealousy seems unforgivably petty compared to the pain she clearly feels. I can't help feeling responsible, like I forced her to choose between us and now I have broken the hearts of both the woman that I love and a young man who I respect as I fighter if nothing else. She is mine, but it is a hollow sort of victory.

I know if I say these things to her, she will deny it, tell me it was all her fault, and nothing I say will be able to convince her otherwise.

So I just hold her while she cries the night away.


	8. Prompt 21 - Pool

**The Twilight Twenty-Five **

**thetwilight25 dot com**

**Prompt: 21 **

**Pen Name: Glitterb1234 **

**Pairing/Character(s): Bella+Edward **

**Rating: T **

**Word Count: 464**

**Photo prompts can be found here: **

**thetwilight25 dot com/round-eight/prompts**

The blue water shimmered in the sunlight streaming down on me where I stood on the wooden deck that surrounded the pool. It was perfectly calm and perfectly peaceful, and I reflected again on how glad I was that Edward had chosen to surprise me with a trip to a private Tuscan villa for our honeymoon.

Across the other side of the pool, my new husband stepped through the French windows that opened off the kitchen, deliciously shirtless and wearing his swimming trunks. He spotted me and grinned, then set down his towel and dived into the water with a small, neat splash. I watched his lithe body slide smoothly through the water towards me, then stepped back to avoid the spray as he broke the surface and flipped his hair back off of his face.

"Care to join me Mrs Cullen?" he said, and my heart melted a little as he smiled cheekily up at me, his muscled arms folded on the decking at the edge of the pool and water still clinging to his skin.

Any other day, I would have jumped right in. Today, however, I was in the mood to tease, so I just smiled at him and shook my head, moving backwards towards the sun loungers. "No thanks, I think I'll just lie in the sun for a while."

He let me get as far as the lounger before he came after me. He hauled himself out of the water, and I was momentarily distracted by the way the fabric now clung to his muscular form. That distraction was all he needed to cross the width of the deck and completely catch me by surprise as he hooked one arm behind my knees and scooped me up into his arms.

"Edward!" I squealed, flinging my arms around his neck and clinging to him, even as my legs kicked and I squirmed to get loose.

He ignored me, crossing back to the pool and stretching out his arms until I was forced to let go, then dumping me unceremoniously into the water. I screamed as I sailed through the air, remembering at the last second to hold my breathe and close my eyes as I plunged into the pool. I came up spluttering, trying desperately to flip my hair out of my face as his laugh echoed around me.

Edward jumped back into the water, cannonballing this time so I was drenched again by the splash, and caught me around the waist as I tried to get away. I tried to be angry too, but he kissed me on the lips and I couldn't even try to pretend, kissing him back enthusiastically.

It's hard to be mad at the person who makes you happier than anything else in the world.


	9. Prompt 9 - Hands

**The Twilight Twenty-Five **

**thetwilight25 dot com**

**Prompt: 9 **

**Pen Name: Glitterb1234 **

**Pairing/Character(s): You decide :)**

**Rating: T **

**Word Count: 487 **

**Photo prompts can be found here: **

**thetwilight25 dot com/round-eight/prompts**

I had always loved holding his hand. From the time when we were just silly little kids at the playground, running from swing to slide to monkey bars without a care in the world. We held hands whenever we could, whenever we needed it. When it wasn't cool for boys and girls to be friends any more, we would meet in his tree house and just sit holding hands in secret. Our parents used to watch us with a mixture of concern and hope in their eyes, as if they would love nothing more than for our hand holding to mean something more, but at the same time worried that we were becoming too dependant on each other. As we got older, we were both given talks about how dangerous it could be for us to spend all our time together and never see any of our other friends. We both argued that we did nothing of the sort, and when we met up that evening we talked about how silly they were, and laughed at their fears, and held hands that much tighter just to show them.

We were always there for each other. When we each went through our first break ups, when the bullies got particularly vicious, when my parents started fighting and when they finally told me they were getting divorced. When one of us had been sick and we hadn't seen each other for days, when he found out his mom had breast cancer, and the day she finally went into remission. Every high and low was marked by a trip to the tree house and hand holding. We didn't need to speak, we didn't need to hug, we didn't need anything else but to sit close and intertwine our fingers and squeeze as if we were never letting go.

I don't know when I fell in love with him. It happened slowly, over all those years of sitting in silence. All of a sudden, holding his hand felt like holding a precious diamond, or some delicate glass figure that would break if I dropped it. I thought there was no way he could feel the same way for me – we were just friends, he'd never looked at me differently, his girlfriends were never anything like me – and for the time being, I was content.

When we were 18, we were in the tree house again, just sitting there, and suddenly he turned and kissed me on the cheek. When I turned to ask him what he was doing, he kissed me again... on the lips. From that day on, hand holding was never enough. We discovered all kinds of new ways to touch, to kiss, to hold. We learned to talk too, and both admitted the feelings we had held in for far too long. So much changed, but one thing stayed the same.

We still hold hands all the time.


End file.
